


A Treasure Fit for a Prince

by TwilightKnight17



Series: Shuake Week 2020 [7]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Again, Akechi Goro Has A Palace, Gen, I am once again a simple person who likes simple tropes, Kidnapping, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Shadow Goro is a sweetheart, Sort Of, misunderstandings about cognitive spaces
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 08:21:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27680021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightKnight17/pseuds/TwilightKnight17
Summary: Akechi having a Palace was something that the Thieves knew how to deal with.Shadow Goro's ideas about Treasures were not.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Kurusu Akira
Series: Shuake Week 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2017159
Comments: 14
Kudos: 198
Collections: ShuAke Week 2020





	A Treasure Fit for a Prince

**Author's Note:**

> Nov. 22nd, Day 7: ~~Soulmates~~ || ~~Nightmares~~ || **Free Day**
> 
> Slamming in directly before the deadline here like a true procrastinator. 10 minutes to midnight is still the 22nd.
> 
> Turns out I _can_ write a Palace in less than five-digits worth of words...by not writing 95% of the Palace. ;)

Figuring out that Goro had a Palace was the easy part. 

They’d gone to Mementos a week before their deadline to complete a few smaller requests, and when Crow switched into the main party to relieve Skull for a bit, the group was collectively caught off-guard when he found himself unable to summon Robin Hood. They had rolled with it at the time; Crow was equally deadly with his sword and gun. But it was obvious it was bothering him, and he’d left in a hurry as soon as they returned to reality.

Morgana was the one to make the suggestion that something had happened to his persona because he’d become distorted. So Akira checked the nav, and somehow, in the span of just two weeks, Goro Akechi had spawned a Palace.

Akira had put a small team together, hand-picking teammates that he thought would be more sympathetic to Goro’s situation. The rest, he’d told to keep preparing everything for their plan, in case stealing Goro’s Treasure didn’t fix his need to stage Akira’s suicide. So Ann, Morgana, and Yusuke had come along with him, and they’d discovered that Goro’s Palace was a castle. Not a gross castle like Kamoshida’s, either. A beautiful fairy-tale castle, like something out of a Destiny movie, with a soaring tower and an entrance hall with a sweeping grand staircase.

Which brought them here. To the hard part.

“Joker!” Ann shouted, hand raised to her mask. But she didn’t call Carmen, too afraid of hitting him as he struggled against the hold on him.

There had been two tall knights at the base of the staircase when they arrived. The one on the right was wearing golden armor, with a cobalt plume on his helmet and a golden arrow on his shield. The one on the left was wearing black armor, with a crimson plume, and a shield covered in a strange, black-and-white design. They’d immediately squared up for a fight when the Thieves arrived, and with no other options immediately apparent, the Thieves had settled into their own battle stances as well.

The gold knight was strong. Immoveable. Slower, but able to hit incredibly hard. The black knight was faster, trickier, more prone to sneaking in close and striking before they were aware of his position. And that was how they’d ended up in their current situation: the black knight had managed to get behind Joker, getting a grip under his arms and yanking him off the floor into a secure hold. He couldn’t get enough leverage to wriggle free, and the others were unwilling to attack when it was almost a guarantee that Akira would take the damage.

And of course, in the middle of this awful standoff, Goro himself stormed in, livid.

“What are you _doing_ here?” he demanded.

“We were attempting to investigate the source of your distortion,” Yusuke said calmly. “The loss of your persona clearly distressed you; we wanted to attempt to ascertain the source so that we could bring our concerns to you.”

Goro stared at him, mouth hanging open for a moment. Then he spat, “And what the _hell_ gives you the right to march into my head and try to _change_ me? Was this Joker’s idea?”

“I was trying to help?” Akira said sheepishly. He looked up, realizing that both knights were watching Goro intently. “So, um… If this is your Palace, can you tell him to put me down?”

“I…” Goro hesitated, like he’d just realized that Akira was being held prisoner instead of waiting to hear his angry reaction. “Are they—”

_“We must take you to the Prince,”_ the gold knight said, his voice deep and reverberating in his helmet.

_“He requires your presence.”_ The black knight’s voice was higher, but more… menacing, somehow? Akira didn’t really have time to parse the tone. He didn’t want to be dragged off anywhere without his teammates. But before he could say anything else there was a sharp hit to his head, and the last thing he saw was Goro, looking outright _scared_ , before everything went black.

***

When Akira woke up, he was in bed, warm and comfortable. When he looked around, he spotted his shoes, sitting neatly beside an armchair with his coat draped over the back. His mask, knife, and gun were on a side table, and there was a thick comforter tucked around him. The last thing he registered was… Goro, sitting in a second chair with a book. But something looked off about him. He was wearing his thief outfit, but the gold trim was shot through with shimmery thread, and his red cape was long and elegant, made of what looked like crushed velvet. There was a gold circlet on his head, and he wasn’t wearing a mask, and when Akira shifted slightly, he looked over with wide, shadow-gold eyes.

“Ah, you’re awake!” He got up and hurried to Akira’s bedside. “I used a bead on you, but you didn’t wake up right away. I told Sir Loki he shouldn’t have hit you so hard.”

Akira stared at him. “What’s going on?” he asked. “Why did you bring me here?”

“To make sure they can finish the Palace!” Shadow Goro laid a hand over his, his expression soft and earnest. “I promise, you’re safe here. Nothing is going to hurt you.”

Akira hesitated. “Are you… Do you expect me to stay here?” He reached back for his knife with his free hand, uncertain. “I need to get back; the real you is still…”

“The real me can figure it out. There has to be a Treasure to steal for there to be a change of heart, right?” Shadow Goro squeezed his hand. “You can be my Treasure.”

“You don’t have a Treasure?” Akira asked. Now that he was really looking, he could see that Shadow Goro was younger than his real-world counterpart, probably Futaba’s age or younger. And he was smiling in a completely genuine way, with none of the guile that was present in his real self. “I don’t… think that’s how this works.”

Shadow Goro tilted his head curiously. “But why not?” he asked. “They have to steal the source of my distortions to fix the Palace. That’s how you all explained it.”

“And that’s… me?”

“What else?” Shadow Goro scooted closer. “You’re the most influential thing in my life right now. I never second-guessed my plan until you. I was never unsure. But you’ve made me think about so many things, and now I’m pushing forward anyway even though I don’t want to. So the best solution was to hope that you’d steal my heart.” Tentatively, he leaned against Akira’s shoulder, looking down at his lap. “But I looked all over the castle, and I can’t find my Treasure. If I don’t have one, you can’t help me. So please.” He peered hopefully up at Akira. “You’ll help, right?”

What was he supposed to say to that? He hesitated, then reached up, smoothing Goro’s bangs back from his forehead so that the diamond in his circlet glittered in the light from the window. “Yeah. I’ll stay. You just want them to come up here and get me, right?”

“Right!” Shadow Goro smiled like the sun. He hopped to his feet, gesturing at the room. “I had you brought up to the tower, so they have to make it through the whole castle, but I have chess, and books, and we can talk.”

Akira was impressed that he’d put that much thought into it. He kicked off the bedclothes, sparing a glance for his weapons and his mask before getting up. “I could go for chess,” he said.

Shadow Goro looked like he’d offered him the world.

***

They played chess, and chatted, and Akira munched on the food he’d brought for the infiltration. Gradually the lighting outside the windows changed, and Shadow Goro disappeared for a little while before returning.

“They’ve left for the day,” he said, looking anxious. “They’re over halfway through, though. I…”

Akira closed the book he was reading. He had a feeling he knew what the problem was. “Let me look through my supplies,” he said. “Don’t worry.”

He poked through the vast pockets of Joker’s discarded coat, counting up protein bars and small tupperwares. Thank god his pockets were some kind of hammerspace. “I have enough that I can stay one more day, but after that, you have to let me go home, or I’m going to go hungry.” He smiled reassuringly. “I’m sure they’ll come back tomorrow. My friends won’t want to leave me in a Palace for longer than necessary, and I _know_ your real self won’t.”

“My real self probably had to be dragged out of here,” Shadow Goro agreed. His expression drooped a little. “But if they don’t come tomorrow… You can go, if you promise to come back.”

“I’m here because I want to help you,” Akira said firmly. “If this is what will help you… then I’ll do it.”

Shadow Goro looked away, giggling a little. “That’s why my real self kind of thinks you’re stupid. But he likes you a lot anyway.”

Knowing Goro actually liked him made warmth blossom in his chest, and Akira walked over to poke the shadow in the chest. “I like him a lot, too.”

The shadow beamed. “I’m glad. No one else likes the real us. You’re special.”

They settled in for a second game of chess after Shadow Goro demanded a rematch for his loss earlier, and partway through, Akira finally worked up the nerve to ask, “So… you mentioned a plan earlier. A plan that I was ruining. What was that? What’s so important that you were going to kill me?”

“Oh!” Shadow Goro said. “You knew about that. Of course you did. You’re way too smart.” He moved his rook, trying to flank Akira’s queen. “There’s someone I hate more than anything. More than orphanages or abusive foster families or stupid fans. I might hate him more than I love you, or it might be the other way around. I don’t know, and that’s why this castle formed.” His golden eyes were sad. “My father. He ruined my life, and I’m going to ruin his in return.”

Akira blinked. That hadn’t been what he was expecting at all. Especially the L-word. But Shadow Goro didn’t seem to notice that he’d said it, so Akira let it go for now. “How does that involve killing me, though?”

The shadow explained a long story, woven from threads stretching back to being fifteen and beaten down by the world, awakening Robin and Loki, forming a plan to topple _Masayoshi Shido_ from the highest point of his career. It explained… a lot about how Goro was, honestly, and Akira felt like he was learning, finally, how all the puzzle pieces Goro had offered up on their outings fit together. And he was understanding the shadow better, too. This was what Goro could have been at fifteen, the hopeful parts of himself that wanted to do good that he’d been pushing away. It wasn’t really a distortion, so much as something he’d suppressed that was clawing its way back to the surface, causing enough emotional turmoil to spawn this Palace.

Hopefully when Goro got here, he’d be able to see that.

***

The next afternoon, Akira was dozing on the couch, his legs propped across Shadow Goro’s lap as he read a mystery novel, when the door to the tower room burst open and Goro flung himself through in a blur of rage and an unfamiliar dark, striped outfit.

Huh. He really was Black Mask.

Ann, Morgana, and Yusuke tumbled through behind him as he brandished a frankly-terrifying serrated sword and demanded, “Where the fuck is he?”

Akira shot upright immediately, getting up to put himself between the shadow and the enraged Goro. “Hey, hey, calm down, I’m right here, I’m fine.”

“Joker! Are you hurt?” Morgana called, and he shook his head.

“I’m okay, really, guys. Don’t attack him.”

Shadow Goro had gotten up as well, peering from behind Akira at his real self. “Oh… Loki’s outfit,” he said, smiling. “We look so cool in that one.”

Goro’s mouth opened and closed a few times, like he was grappling for words. “You… Wh… Have you just been _relaxing here_ this whole time instead of trying to escape?!” he finally exclaimed. “How brainless are you to _let_ yourself be held hostage?”

“It’s more complicated than that,” Akira said, feeling protective. If Goro hurt the shadow, he was just hurting himself. That was the last thing Akira wanted.

“What do you mean?” Yusuke asked.

Shadow Goro stepped around to stand at Akira’s side, his regal cape brushing the floor as he moved. “I needed him,” he explained. “He’s my Treasure, so you can steal my heart.”

_“What?”_ Goro snorted. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. You can’t just grab something random and decide it’s a Treasure.”

“It’s not random!” Shadow Goro stamped his foot. “He’s important to us! He’s so important! He’s our rival and our friend and we love him! You want to get out of this, you want _justice_ , and you know he can help with that but you just keep pushing him away because you’re scared! You’re the same scared, lonely teenager we’ve always been! I know, because I’m you!”

“You are n—”

“Goro,” Akira interrupted. “I know. I know everything.”

“Whatever you think you ‘know’, you can’t possibly understand,” Goro snarled. “No one does.”

“I want to, though.” Akira took a step towards him, and gestured at his friends, watching the proceedings in awe. “We all do. You sounded like us, the day you mentioned that someone had wronged you. And we want to help.”

Shadow Goro balled his fists. “Now that we know about the change of heart, we can make things even worse for Shido! We can stop doing bad things and make him grovel instead! And then he can’t hurt us before we finish the plan.”

Goro looked between the shadow and Akira, his confidence draining like someone had punched a hole in him. “I… I’ve come too far. If I stop now, everything will have been for nothing.”

“If you stop now, you don’t have to do anything else that you don’t want to,” Akira said gently.

“We can make him pay without hurting anyone else,” Shadow Goro entreated.

Goro averted his eyes, his voice scornful as he said, “I thought I’d buried all of that naive optimism.” But he walked over to Shadow Goro, looking down at him. “That is what you are, I suppose. The part of me that wants to do the right thing. I’ve been ignoring it for too long.”

Shadow Goro grinned. “You don’t have to, anymore. We have other people, now. We have Joker, now.”

“...I suppose we do.”

The shadow snapped his fingers, and the two knights appeared just behind and on either side of him. They collapsed in a burst of shadowy tendrils, only to re-form as Robin Hood and a gangly, striped creature that none of them had seen before. Shadow Goro grinned, his golden eyes shining, and murmured, “I am thou, thou art I,” before vanishing in the same way. In his place, a third figure formed, a bowman in black and red, sleek and powerful.

All three personas dissolved into light, and Goro gasped softly, bringing a hand to his chest. Not a second later, he staggered, and Ann and Yusuke rushed forward to catch his arms and keep him from faceplanting the floor.

“I guess technically that was an awakening, so it’s no wonder he’s tired,” Morgana said.

“Twice was enough, for fuck’s sake,” Goro huffed. “This sucks.” He looked up at Akira, who was watching him with a wry smile, and raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“I’ve never heard you curse before,” Akira said, amused.

Ann laughed. “You should have heard him on the way up here. I’m pretty sure he told at least one shadow to shove its spear up its ass.”

“The contrast to his public demeanor is astounding,” Yusuke commented.

“I was worried, okay?” Goro sighed, then realized what he’d said and blushed.

Akira decided to have mercy on him for now. “We should go,” he said. “Confronting his shadow seems to have done it. The Palace will probably fade on it’s own. And we’ve got...some stuff to figure out.”

This wasn’t going to be easy. They had to figure out what they were going to do about Black Mask’s crimes, and how they would affect their teammates. They had to figure out what to do about Shido and Sae. And Akira needed a proper answer about that pesky ‘love’ word that the shadow kept using.

But for now, that could wait. Because as he watched Goro willingly lean his weight on Yusuke, and answer Ann’s questions about how he was feeling without any venom, he had a feeling they were going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> According to my own particular breed of fanon regarding cognitive spaces, this is technically a dungeon, not a Palace. But the Thieves don’t know that, so they’re going to call everything a Palace regardless. And Shadow Goro is going to act on the only frame of reference he has. XD
> 
> ...look, I just had a really good mental image of Joker chilling with Shadow Goro. Real Goro was _this close_ to setting off a boss fight, though.
> 
> This week has been fun! I hope everyone enjoyed!


End file.
